A New World
by kosmos00
Summary: Isn't it a bit strange that no one realized Heathcliff was Kayaba until he made a stupid mistake in a duel? This story attempts to rectify that. What will happen when someone recognizes Heathcliff on the very first floor. Tags: OC, Oneshot?, Unique Skill, Maybe OOC, FF13-2 imports.
1. Chapter 1

«Link Start!» Those were the words that began my journey into the world of Sword Arts Online or SAO as critics on both sides of the debate were already calling it.

The ceiling of my apartment disappeared into a strange gray haze all at once as the «NervGear» activated. Before I could spend too much time trying to figure out what was going on a menu popped up in front of me.

The menu immediately displayed «Character Creation» in big letters before changing into a more familiar interface that reminded me of countless mmorpg's I played in the past. Though this interface had a lot more customization available than most.

The first thing I did was set the gender to female. I had played as male a couple times in the past, but the thought of playing as a male in a game that gave sensory feedback just creeped me out. I flipped through the other menu's quickly and quickly hashed out a character based on an old final fantasy favorite of mine. Though this one came out a bit older looking that the original.

I frowned at the character displayed in the mist in front of me, but didn't have the time to fix it if I wanted to make the starting tutorial. So I pressed the next command on the menu. In response it shifted again and then queried, «Character Name?» I quickly entered Lightning and hit enter.

The whole setup froze for a moment and I was worried that someone else had taken the name. I really hoped not. I didn't want to attach a random string of numbers to the back of my character name just because some smuck had beaten me to the punch. I had done it in other games of course, but SAO was the first vmmorpg, things I did without thought in other rpg's seemed somehow wrong here.

Luckily after another moment's delay the screen gave a sharp ping and displayed «Character Creation Complete!»

The world went black and from the darkness a voice boomed out, "Welcome to Sword Arts Online!" I was fairly sure I recognized the voice actor they had hired to make the introductions as Char from the recent Gundam remake, but didn't have time to ponder it long.

The world of Aincrad came to life around me as I formed in the center of starting city in a burst of light. The streets were already bustling with the ten thousand people who had been lucky enough, or rich enough, to get a copy of the game. I was in that second category, though I wasn't particularly interested in disclosing that fact to anyone. But hey whatever I didn't manage to spend frivolously would end up as an endowment to some university or another, so there wasn't really a point in not abusing what my parents had left behind when I could.

Though I was starting to think that SAO hadn't been a frivolous investment at all. The world was rendered a detail I had never imagined before. What's more I could actually smell and touch things, not that «Starting City» had a pleasant smell, but it was still so much amazingly more than I had ever gotten out of a video game before.

But more than that, in this «world», I could stand. For the first time in eight years I was walking, running skipping and jumping around. Sempai had missed a big change to market the «NervGear» to long term care patients. I was definitely going to have to correct that when I logged out.

It was almost enough to inspire me to just spend time in the city viewing the sights, but common sense eventually took over. In an mmo I normally made enough money to satisfy my often ridiculous whims through extensive power trading, but that sort of business required a seed money. Way way more money than the starting 100 col that I had spawned with.

Which all boiled down to one thing, it was time to go grind some mobs. So I equipped the «Rusty Short Sword» that selecting the «One Handed Straight Sword» skill during character creation had earned me. To my surprise the sword just appeared in a deteriorating sheath on my hip in a little blaze of light. I idly wondered if there was a way to change where the weapon appeared and how it was arranged while I walked towards the gates of «starting city».

The grasslands outside weren't what I expected at all. They looked more like a meadow or a green field someone had put out to hunt on than the waist high grass of a real piece of grassland. Though I wasn't about to complain since wading through something like that while fighting wouldn't be fun at all.

A lot of people we're already out on the fields farming the local mobs, a small pig called a frenzy boar, though I thought it looked more like a demonic Pumbaa than any real boar. I spent a moment debating whether or not I should just start whacking the closest one with my sword. I was fairly sure I could kill it even though I didn't really have a clue how to use the game's «sword skills» properly. It was the local equivalent of a slime after all. On the other hand it was the local equivalent of a slime, and dying from one would be really really embarrassing.

The decision was made for me a moment later when a pair of swordsmen walked down the ledge behind me. I couldn't help but here the one with black hair explaining sword skills to the one with pink hair. When they made it to my position the one with black hair asked politely if I was going to kill the nearby boar I had been debating about.

I gestured for him to go ahead before sitting down to watch on the grass of the incline. The black haired swordsman continued to explain things for a bit to his friend before he agroed the boar with a rock. What happened next made me devoutly glad that I hadn't picked a fight with it on my own. Pinky got beaten, badly. And if the shot to Pinky's manhood was any indication frenzy boars had mean streak a mile wide.

After his humiliating encounter the boar broke agro and went back to standing in the grass a few feet away. The boar had taken about a tenth of pinky's health with its charge, but from the shameful way he was lying in the grass whining you wouldn't have guessed. He kept at it until the black haired swordsman finally reminded him that he couldn't feel pain.

I couldn't help but giggle at the way he immediately sat up. Which apparently was more than pinky's ego could take since he shouted back at me at me, "Laugh it up! I bet you can't do any better."

I smirked back at him and stood before unsheathing my sword for the first time. The black haired swordsman gave the blade a funny look and said, "You know you can buy a cheap sword that's twice as good as that wreck in the starting shops right?" I filed away his helpful advice while pointedly ignoring pinky's laughter and settled into a stance.

I nodded for the boy to go ahead and agro the frenzy boar again, and started to run everything I knew about sword skills through my head. First take the initial position. When the boar was six feet away I took the position for one of the fundamental sword skills «Horizontal». Then when you feel the skill start to activate, let it explode. Just as the boar hit the apex of its jump the system dragged me forward in a streak of red light and my sword dug an angry gash in the side of the boar.

It wasn't enough. The boar turned as I stumbled out of the sword skill and started charging towards me again. I steadied myself as quickly as I could and brought my sword high into the initial position of the «Vertical» skill and watched focused on the boar. This time I didn't just let the system pull me along, despite the awkward feeling I put every bit of weight and strength I could behind that slash.

I was rewarded with a shower of glowing polygon's as the boar came apart. A little window popped up in front of me and displayed:

Exp 24

Col 30

Items 2

I stared at the window before pressing the claim button. If something as weak as a frenzy boar was gave out thirty col I was going to need at least fifty thousand col to start power-trading mid tier items. And that was going to take forever unless I got lucky and something dropped a super rare item.

With that in mind I clicked «Items» and the menu expanded to show two «Frenzy Boar Tusks», which looked like vendor trash. Not that I was about to turn them down, every little bit helped.

After dealing with the items I sent pinky a playful smirk, which irritated the man into rushing after another boar to the black haired swordsman's dismay. Though I have to admit the fight went much better for pinky than his first encounter with a boar. He brought it down with a neat combination of diagonal and horizontal that I resolved to remember. After the boar dissolved into another shower of polygons pinky started dancing in joy.

I couldn't help but start humming the final fantasy victory tune. Which earned me a high five from pinky and a confused look from the black haired swordsman. His confusion made me wonder if he was that much younger than me and pinky or if he had just never played rpg's as a child. Even worse I realized that recognizing the tune meant that pinky was probably my age which was a bit disturbing with the way he was acting out.

I frowned a second before smiling. I wasn't nearly hypocritical enough to complain about someone going to an mmorpg for an opportunity to act differently than they had to in the real world. It was why I had bought a vastly overpriced second hand copy of the SAO in the first place after all.

After pinky had finished his dance he gave us both a more serious look and asked, "Hey I'm going to log off in a few moments to eat pizza, do you two mind if I add you to my friends list?" Punctuation the question was a beep from the mail system that read «Friend Request : Kline».

I frowned at it a second before finally just asking, "How did you get my name?"

I got one of those 'are you an idiot' looks that the Japanese seem to specialize in back. I hated those looks, and must have shown it because Kline suddenly got a bit nervous and quickly answered, "Look closely at my health bar."

I did as he asked and after a few seconds of squinting a name appeared in white on top the green bar. I looked over at the black haired swordsman whose health bar eventually revealed to be Kirito. I sent him a friend request before I excepted Kline's.

Friending both of them made sense, Kline's easy going attitude meant he would almost certainly either start or be part of one of the larger guilds in the game, which is where most mid-tier weapon purchases came from. And Kirito seemed like part of the hard core crowd which meant he was a great target for both acquisitions and sales once I had the capital to start power-trading.

Kirito had barely accepted the request when Kline said something that snapped me out of my profiteering thoughts: "Where is the log out button?" The question sent an uncomfortable chill running up my spine. Kirito was trying to help Kline find the button, an attempt that I somehow already knew was useless. The chill running up my spine meant one thing and one thing only, we were about to get screwed.

As if to answer my realization we were all promptly surrounded by boxes of blue light. When the light faded I was in the center of a crowd of thousands. I belatedly realized that the blue boxes were a mass player teleport. And if the whining going on from some people was any indication then their little problem with logging out was the cause.

I briefly thought that if they were going to fix the problem then addressing the player base to prevent a panic was a good move. But that shiver in my spine telling me something was wrong hadn't gone away. Sempai was a perfectionist of the highest order, he wouldn't have made a mistake like this, especially on the launch day. Something like this could make or break the entire vmmorpg genre.

So I stood among the masses and waited for the other shoe to drop. I didn't have to wait long. Red polygons danced in the sky to form a giant hooded figure. Sempai's voice boomed out of the figure, "Player's I welcome you to my world."

The crowd fell silent and the hooded figure continued, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko and I am the only one who can control this world."

That brought out a few whispers that were drowned out when he continued, "I think most of you have discovered the fact that the log out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Arts Online's system." I instantly understood what was going on, it had been the plot of enough anime and manga after all. I was now trapped in this «world».

He confirmed it a second later, "Until you get to the top of this castle you cannot log out of your own free will."

"also...the disruption or dismantling of the «NervGear» from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted..."

"The sensors in your «NervGear» will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and disrupting all of your basic functions."

Sempai's statement sent the crowd into an uproar. People were shouting that sempai's words were impossible, others were affirming that sempai's threat was real. Sempai waited for the mood to build before he continued, "To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours or any attempt to unlock, dismantle or destroy the «NervGear». If any of these conditions are met, then the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through mass-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result..."

I ignored the next line about how people had already died and thought furiously. What sempai was saying was impossible. Rather he was lying. There is a saying in the computer securities business – 'Physical Access is Total Access'. No, sempai wasn't depending on the no doubt excellent securities that he had installed in the «NervGear» at all. The real threat hadn't been so casually announced. A competent team could easily disable a single «NervGear» and let someone escape; then Sempai would activate kill switches in the remaining «NervGear» in retribution. Sempai was holding everyone in the game hostage against the Japanese government to force them into adopting a policy of non-interference.

Sempai's voice boomed out again, "Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax... and concentrate on beating the game." I took his statement as a confirmation of my deductions about his real plan to keep the government from interfering. I couldn't help but admire the trap we were all stuck in. The only way to disable his ability to instantly kill all of the players was to disable the central SAO sever. Which if I was correct would leave the government two hours before a piece of code hidden in the firmware of each «NervGear» terminated us all.

Even with the near unlimited resources available to the Japanese government safely removing all ten thousand «NervGear» in two hours while giving sempai no warning was impossible. I wondered what exactly sempai wanted that would drive him to such an extreme.

The giant figure with sempai's voice answered my question. "But I ask of you all to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality... From now on, any forms of revival in the game will no longer work. The moment your health reaches zero, your avatar will be gone forever. And your brain will be destroyed by the «NervGear»." It was more than enough for me to piece together sempai's plan. He was just taking the same thing every other game designer did to an extreme. He just wanted his game played to the fullest extent possible.

As though to answer my realization sempai said, "Players, there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."

Thousands of people shouted in protest at once. It was so loud that my ears hurt, making out any single protest was impossible. Sempai let it go on for a moment before he spoke again, "Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."

I did as he asked. There in my inventory next to the pair of boar tusks was a new item called «Hand Mirror». I clicked the use button and a small silver mirror appeared in my hand. It showed my reflection. Not the firm face of my slightly off final fantasy character remake, but the fragile features and the graying blond hair of my real face. I dropped the mirror in shock and stared dimly as it shattered into a little burst of polygons.

The transformation to my real body had cost me more than a few inches. My legs were now the stick figure thin emancipated things they were in the real world. I guessed I should count myself lucky the system hadn't suddenly taken my ability to walk back away from me. I thought I honestly looked a bit unnatural, a normal and well developed thank you very much upper body on that hated pair of stick figure legs. Which made it priority number one to find a pair of pants or some armor that covered my legs.

When sempai said, "You will all most probably be wondering, 'Why? Why am I —the creator of both the Nerve Gear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko— doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?'" I started pushing my way through the mass of players around me. My need to find myself some clothes was more pressing than the desire to learn anything else from sempai's little speech.

I managed to push my way into a little npc store on the side of the great plaza where the players were gathered. The store was nice if cramped, almost every surface was covered with items or a shelf that held more items. If the sheer variety of items was any indication then the store didn't specialize in anything at all, which made it perfect for what I needed.

The npc inside was a small women, even smaller than me, who was sleeping quietly leaned up against the counter. I thought it was kind of adorable, especially when I got close and she woke with a start. She stared at me for a second and blushed a bit before speaking in a rush, "Welcome to Samson's Second-Hand Supplies. Samson isn't here right now, but I'd be happy to help you-."

Whatever else she was going to say was drowned out by sempai's voice, which somehow seemed even louder inside the shop. "None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there is no longer a reason or a purpose in doing this. The reason is because... this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve Gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized."

I ignored sempai's statement and addressed the npc, "I would like to buy a pair of pants and some starter armor. A cheap sword would be nice too if you have it."

The npc seemed a bit over excited when she answered, "I have just the thing!" She rushed over to one of the piles and yanked on a strap sticking out half way up it. I moved just in time to save the girl from being buried by the pile when it predictably came down right on top of her. I had to fight back the desire to roll my eyes. This shop keeper was totally meant to play on someone's fetish.

The girl blushed even more and stammered, "Thank you honored customer!" before springing to her feet and placing the sword on the counter before running to one of the shelves. While I tried to keep an eye on the npc in case I need to save her again sempai's last words boomed through the air, "...Now, I have finished the official tutorial for «Sword Art Online». Players—I wish you luck."

I wondered if that was an honest wish while the npc assembled the rest of my order, miraculously without any further accidents. The npc finally assembled a sizable stack of items on the counter before in turned to me and said, "We didn't have any pants in your size, I picked out a couple long skirts that I thought looked nice instead."

I wasn't actually sure how to respond to that. It sent me in a brief loop where I wondered exactly how developed the npc AIs actually were. The npc shopkeeper cut off my thoughts before I could really get going though. "Umm the total is one hundred and five col."

A trade window popped up in front of me with a sharp ping and I depleted almost all of my available funds on a «Well Maintained Leather Vest», a «Old War-sword», and three «Long Skirts» in different colors.

And after an embarrassing half nude moment which will never ever be mentioned again, I managed to figure out how to use my inventory to change clothes. I left the «Rusty Short Sword» in my inventory instead of selling back to the npc. I had heard that weapons were breakable in this game and the worst thing I wanted to do was end up somewhere without a weapon.

I spent a few moments getting used to the unfamiliar restriction of the vest that fit a bit too tightly over my chest, and the much heavier weight of my new sword. The skirts werewolf bad at all though. Though I thought the gray one I was wearing looked like something from a time when showing ankles was scandalous; they didn't impede my movement at all. And more importantly you couldn't see my legs because of them.

After I felt comfortable in my new equipment I bid the clumsy npc a good day and walked out of the shop and right into another player. We sprawled out comically on the stone of the great plaza to the amusement of the very few that we're collected enough to laugh. I pushed myself off of the gaunt faced and silver haired man and wondered if the accident was karma for silently laughing at the clumsy shopkeeper.

I gave the man a helping hand and took a good look at him for the first time. The first thing I did was look at his health bar for a name, Heathcliff. He was tall, easily a foot taller than me, and had the slim but well developed muscles you would expect out of an athlete. Even more than that though, he was inexplicably familiar too me. Something inside of me insisted that I should recognize the man standing in front of me.

The sense of familiarity increased when he gave me an easy smile, and promptly apologized for running into me.

I denied any blame he placed on himself of course. It had obviously been my fault for rushing out of the store like an idiot. Though I certainly wasn't above using the whole thing as an excuse to invite myself along with Healthcliff. I'm not sure exactly why I wanted to go with him. It might have been that nagging sense of familiarity or it might have been the way he moved with a certain purpose, but either way we we're soon out on the fields again.

Once we were out of the earshot of most he said, "These fields are going to fill up with players soon. They're going to over farm the frenzy boars increasing the re-spawn time of the monster population." I could see his point, the boars we're going to bottleneck player progress, which meant the best way to advance quickly would be to find another farming location well away from the starting city. Which was obviously the point he was trying to convey in the first place. So I asked, "Are we just going to wander through the woods until we find another town?"

He shot me a conspirators grin and said, "Well we could do that, but I just happened to come across some great info back in starting city...the location of this floor's second town." I really really doubted that he had 'just come across' info like that. An mmorpg was a fight over resources and info like that wasn't something that people would just give out. Which meant Heathcliff was almost certainly one of the lucky few who had gotten into the beta test for sword art online.

Which stumped me because I didn't know anyone in the real world who had gotten into the beta test and Heathcliff was definitely familiar. We walked together across the field, ignoring the boars. We weren't the only one's out there of course. Though we had beaten the main rush from starting city, there were a few already out on the field farming and I caught glimpses of people moving through the woods ahead of us. I took that as an indication that Heathcliff was leading us in the right direction at least.

Once we we're in the woods he paused to tell me, "Be careful in here. The wolves here are a lot stronger than the boars on the field, and even worse they will agro on sight." I nodded that I understood and we continued. It didn't take long for the wolves to find us.

And Heathcliff hadn't lied when he said that the wolves were a lot tougher than the boars outside. I almost died to the first wolf we saw. It had sneaked up on us using the clumps of underbrush that dotted the forest floor. The first indication that we had of the threat was the dull thump of it pouncing.

Faster than I could follow Heathcliff had his sword out and took a step in front of me. He caught the now snarling wolf against the flat of the blade and sent it tumbling back on the ground. Instead of going after it though he shouted «Switch!». It took an embarrassingly long time for someone of my staggering intellect to figure out what he meant. The wolf was already back on its feet by the time I had gotten my sword out of its sheath.

In a moment eerily reminiscent of my earlier encounter with the frenzy boar I caught the wolf with a «horizontal» just as it began to jump. It didn't even send the little monster into the yellow. It turn to get another shot at me before I could recover from using the sword skill, but Heathcliff was there with another shout of «Switch!». We swapped back and forth throughout the fight, each covering while the other was recovering from a sword skill.

Not that the wolf went down quietly, by the time it at last dissolved into a little shower of polygons I was in the yellow and even Heathcliff had lost a sizable chunk of his health. We were rewarded with almost three times the experience and col that the frenzy boars rewarded.

Heathcliff smiled at his own battle results screen and claimed his rewards with a beep before he clinched his left hand into a little fist. At that gesture my whole world snapped into clarity. I suddenly knew exactly why Heathcliff seemed so familiar.

He had already continued walking when I finally worked up the courage to shout, "Sempai wait!"

He froze at the sound and slowly turned around to face me while mouthing, "Sempai?" It took him a moment to recover, but he quickly said, "Excuse me, I think you must have mistaken me for someone else"

I smirked internally at the reply. It was all the confirmation that I needed. A normal person would have just thought I was calling him sempai because he looked slightly older than me. But Heathcliff had immediately jumped to the conclusion that I knew him from outside. I sent him a smirk and said, "Even if you change your face it doesn't matter to someone like me. Your manner of speech, your body language, even that habit of clenching your left hand when you feel particularly satisfied, they all tell me you are definitely Kayaba-sempai."

I desperately wished for some way to record the famous or more likely by this point infamous Kayaba Akihiko gape like a carp. The he closed his mouth with a click and asked something that through me a in a loop, "...Who are you?"

I couldn't deny that I was disappointed by that reply, and a little of it might have seeped into my normally disparaging introduction, "You don't recognize me? .. Yeah I guess I'm not that special at all. I'm Catherine Linton. I'm a transfer who is a year your junior at the university; I'm in the doctorate game design club with you, not that you show up for club meetings all that often. -"

A red window popped up in front of him and he cut off my rambling. "I can't afford to let knowledge of who I am spread. It's unfortunate -"

I might have been a little miffed that he had cut me off earlier so I returned the favor before he could give me a villain speech, "Why would I want to do something like that?"

That through him in another loop and for the second time in as many minutes I really wished I had a way to record this. Sempai let out an accidental, "Wha-"

But I cut him off again, "This world that Kayaba-sempai made for us, I want to experience it to the fullest."

He sent me a look that was one step short of openly questioning my sanity. After a moment he recovered enough to ask, "Don't you want to escape?"

Even to me my voice sounded a bit coy when I answered him, "Hmm... I'm a very selfish person sempai, because I don't have anything like family left in that world, I can't really relate with those who are desperately trying to return to the people they love. Because my fear of death has already been stripped from me, the chance of death in this world is meaningless. This world you've made for us...I think it will be a good place to die in sempai." I blinked at my own words, that was way more than I had really wanted to say. I idly wondered why I had told him everything while Heathcliff stared back at me, obviously trying to figure out what to do with me.

Eventually he clicked a button on the screen and the world dissolved in blue light. I wondered for a moment if sempai had killed me after all. It was a shame, I had been almost certain he wouldn't. The the light faded and I was in a unfamiliar room. It was a large oval, big enough to hold hundreds, and it was more opulent that anything I had ever seen before. The floor was some red stone polished to mirror brightness and the domed ceiling held a fantastic mural. The whole thing reminded me of a trip to Italy I had made in my second year of high school.

The room was empty except for a single monstrous throne of carved red stone and crystal that reached from floor to ceiling. I belatedly realized what this room must be and mumbled, "This place is-"

"The boss room of Scarlet Jade Castle, the 100th floor of this «world» where the players will face off against the final boss of SAO, «The Holy Sword, Heathcliff»." Though I took careful note of what sempai said my primary concern was that sempai had interrupted me again. I would definitely have to find a way to get him back for that.

I walked over to one of the the rooms windows and took in the breathtaking view of the hundredth floor before I asked, "So am I going to play princess in the tower for the players to rescue one day?" I paused to take a breath then teased him, "Would that make you the evil prince that locked me away because he was so entranced by my beauty." He didn't laugh, which was good because I don't think I could have handled it after the day I already had had.

Instead he shrugged, "I don't actually know. I didn't really expect anyone to figure out who I was one the first day of the game. How did you get a copy anyway? I made sure that no one who might know me were able to get one of the first release copies."

I shrugged at him and answered, "Sempai half of those copies were resold at inflated prices within moments of purchase. Thinking otherwise is naïve." I gestured out the window and said, "This place is beautiful."

He smiled at the comment. "Thank you. This is one of the floors I personally developed instead of just using the randomization features of the «seed»." We both looked out the window before he finally asked, "When you bought the game what did you want out of SAO?"

I thought quietly for a few moments before answering, "That's hard to say. A new experience, anonymity...and a few other things. Maybe even that new reality you talked about in your little tutorial." I really hoped he didn't ask about the other things. Not that I was ashamed of my problems, but it was always awkward to explain. So I quickly asked him a question of my own, "So are the players meeting your expectations."

"Well current company excluded, they are. Almost seven thousand of the player base have ventured outside of the starting city, though most of those are farming the frenzy boar in impractically large groups. A couple hundred have even found there way to other villages and are rapidly increasing their levels."

The coping part of the comment was enough to abruptly remind me that I was talking to a man who could casually sentence thousand to death for his game. I wondered why it didn't bother me more, sociopathy wasn't normally one of the host of mental problems I had. Maybe their deaths just didn't seem real to me.

We stood near that window and talked for what seemed like hours. Through out the conversation I was struck by the strange contrast between how sempai acted and what he had actually done. When Sempai left me on the edge of the forest outside of «Horunka Village» in the dead of night I didn't feel anything like hatred for the man who had trapped us in this world. Rather I felt an overwhelming urge to understand everything about him.

Though despite everything, for a while, I wasn't sure why he trusted me not to spill his identity. I certainly would have been more careful if I were in his place. It took a disgustingly long time for the explanation to occur to me. In this «world» sempai was «God». The truth didn't matter at all because with the power of «God» sempai could change the truth to satisfy his needs.

I was shaken out of my musings by a sharp bing. My menu flashed into existence in front of me and told me in cheery text «Skill Acquired!». I dutifully opened my skill menu and stared, because there was a third skill slot. Since I was a long way from the tenth level to required to normally unlock the third skill slot according to the manual it could only be one thing. A «Special Skill» unlocked through a unique event. Obviously my little chat with sempai was the only thing 'unique' that had occured, so I frowned at the slot form a moment and wondered what sempai thought he was doing. Him cheating for me was the last thing I wanted.

So with trepidation I touched the empty slot and stared at the window that popped up. Then I started laughing. My earlier musings just made it too funny; the window had a single skill that I could equip, the unique skill «God's Knight». I laughed and laughed at sempai's ego and the world that made it truth. After I had scared away the few other players in earshot, I smiled and equiped the skill. I would be sempai's knight for as long as he wanted me.

**A/N General:**

**Yes yes I know most of you want me to finish the first half of Danzo's team before I get distracted by something else. Sorry about that, the next chapter is almost done, I just need to work on Kabuto's role a bit more before I'm satisfied by it. You will definitely see it by next Monday. (The one in November, not the one tomorrow.)**

**I read the SAO light novels over the weekend and really wanted to write this. SAO is kinda a neat subject to write fanfiction for since it lends itself so well to both OCs and first person fics, which I have wanted to try writing for awhile.**

**This story, should it become more than a oneshot (Likely) will mostly focus on the OC's relationship with Heathcliff since he is in my opinion by far the most interesting character in SAO. Kayaba is simultaneously a swell guy and a mass murder and its a shame that the sort of psychosis that drives someone to act like that wasn't properly examined in the LNs. **

**I'm not sure if this will end up as a love story or not. On one hand I don't normally write anything romantic and it would be kinda interesting to write like that for once. On the other hand both the OC here and Kayaba are incredibly messed up people and I'm not sure I could portray that properly if I was also trying to build a relationship. Oh well we will see.**

**I'm not actually sure what the rules for the «» are, if someone would be kind enough to explain when exactly they are supposed to be used I would be really grateful.**

**A/N Chapter:**

**Kept randomly slipping back into third person when I wrote this, hope I fixed everything.**

**I'm not sure how I feel about SAO's unique skills. On one hand they basically scream mary-sue, or at least that was the feeling I got when I read the LNs, on the other hand they really do help the main characters stand out.**

**«God's Knight» will pass along a couple of lightning's staples from ff13-2 including blitz, armor break, smite, launch and army of one. It might or might not allow the whole control a monster after you kill it thing depending on what mood I'm in when I come back to this fanfic.**

**Thanks for reading and remember I love reviews, even negative ones.**


	2. Chapter 2

The forest outside of «Horunka Village» was becoming a graveyard littered with the item drops of the unfortunate. There were three ways to die in the forest. The first was to die by one of the «Wandering Wolves» which I readily termed 'Death by Panic'. The difference in combat power between the boars on the starting plain and the «Wandering Wolves» was huge. Even with no armor you could take eight or nine hits from one of the boars without even beginning to worry about your health. One of the wolves on the other hand would drop a level one into the yellow with a single hit despite the leather armor everyone had started equipping.

In a normal game going below fifty percent health was no big deal. But SAO wasn't like that. When their lives were on the line most people started running when the cursor turned yellow. Against the «Wandering Wolves» that was a fatal mistake. There was absolutely no way for a low level character to outrun one. Trying to climb one of the trees in the forest to escape was even worse. Climbing anything in SAO was hard and slow. It most definitely wasn't something to attempt near a wolf with a ten foot vertical.

That wasn't to say that trying to farm the «Wandering Wolves» was foolish. They were actually the least dangerous thing in the forest because of one reason and one reason alone. They were fragile. A skilled level one duo familiar with the wolves attack pattern could farm them without taking damage. A level one solo player could farm one and live. The quickest method was to start the battle with a sword skill then just take the return hit from the wolf. Unless you had used your sword skills an unreasonable amount to reduce the after skill delay you wouldn't be able to dodge it anyway. That hit would take anywhere from half to two thirds of a level one players health, but it would also do something else very very important. For exactly one second after the «Wandering Wolf» landed a pounce any hit on it would critical. If you were already in position for «Vertical» then you could end the battle right there.

Not that you would stay level one for very long if you were farming «Wandering Wolves». It only took four wolves including the one that I killed with sempai to get me to level two.

I termed the second way to die in the forest 'Death by Misfortune'. It was probably the most common way for people who were actually competent and careful to die. The common «Wandering Wolves» had a rarer and much much more dangerous cousin, which I had overheard one of the small groups operating out of Horunka's only inn term «Howling Wolves». Why was simple. «Howling Wolves» looked exactly like their more common cousins. Up until you damaged one anyway. True to its name, as soon as you dealt any damage to one it would stand on its haunches and bellow its little heart out. If you were out of melee range then you had a chance of escaping the pack of eight to fifteen wolves that appeared out of the forest around. A vanishingly small one perhaps, but definitely a chance.

If you were in melee range then you were already dead. Because then not only did the howling wolf call out all his little forest friends. He also paralyzed you. Unless you were farming in a well coordinated and large group then your last living moments would be lying on the forest floor unable to move as wolves fed on you.

The last way to die in the forest could only be described as 'Death by Stupidity'. It consisted of going near the western edge of the forest where the trees started to get much wider even as the terrain turned into a baffling mix of sudden drops and box canyons. Because that's where the «Bone Armor Wolves» spawned. Not only did the oversized cousins of the other wolves in the forest hit almost four times as hard as the «Wandering Wolves», they were almost invincible.

The coat of thick hardened bone that covered them like some demented barding was distinctly not for show. Hits to the bone, which covered almost every place that was actually easy to hit did exactly one damage until the armor's durability was exhausted and it cracked. Which just wasn't practical when the wolf was tearing through you like a chainsaw.

Frankly the things were invincible monsters are far as I was concerned. But they also had a certain habit which made death by them much less likely than their utterly overwhelming power would indicate. They were extremely territorial. While this made them attack you the moment you accidentally stepped into ones range, it also meant that the «Bone Armor Wolves» were much less likely to simply leave their neck of the woods to chase you down and kill you. As long as you didn't piss it off too badly anyway.

I had always been an over achiever though, so naturally on my third day in SAO I attempted all three ways of dying at once. When I threw a rock to agro my very first mob of the day It stood on its haunches and let out a horrible sound that almost stopped my heart then and there. All around me the woods filled with red polygons as the game spawned a wolf pack. I ran flat out towards the only gap in the mob that I could see before they finished spawning.

The wolves were hot on my heels a moment later, as I ran with my inventory open groping for the item I had bought for these specific circumstances. I found it just as the first of the wolves pounced taking a solid fifth of my health with it. More dangerous than the damage though, was the out of control stagger it sent me into. I probably would have died then and there if no for the bag of ground pepper I had just pulled from my inventory. My stumble sent it spraying out in the air behind me, burning the wolves eyes and buying me just enough time to reclaim my balance.

Unfortunately that was a long way from the 'Guaranteed Escape' that the jerk who had convinced me to buy it had advertised. At that point I might have panicked just a little bit when the next blow sent my health bar into the yellow, but I panicked a lot more when a much deeper growl came from the bushes in front of me. With a sudden sinking feeling I realized exactly where I had been running towards in my panic just as a «Bone Armor Wolf» leaped from the bushes in front of me.

What happened next could only be described as dumb luck, because my brain had obviously long since taken absence from the scene. I jumped forwards, barely dodging a thorough raking from the «Bone Armor Wolf's» ridiculously oversized front claws.

Then the magic started. Even as I hit the brush on the forest floor hard the «Bone Armor Wolf» landed where I had been standing a fraction of a second before with a small cloud of dust and a wave of AoE damage. Or at least I think that was the reason that every single wolf in the pack that had been chasing me suddenly shifted agro to the armored wolf.

Their largely ineffective attacks were more than enough to irritate the already mean tempered «Bone Armor Wolf» into returning the favor. The armored wolf almost contemptuously tore the closest wolf apart with a flash of claws before it turned its fangs on the next closest. If anything the reports had underestimated just how much damage the bone armor wolves did.

It wasn't entirely one sided though. Every time the armored wolf turned to crush one of the wolves the rest of the pack would rush into nip at its flanks. More than one of them was smart enough to try and nip at the armored wolf's softer chest. One even got underneath the armored wolf entirely before the armored wolf smashed it apart with a heavy swipe of its tail.

By the time the armored wolf tore apart its sixth victim I was on my feet and slowly backing away from the fight. The very last thing I wanted to do was absolutely anything that would turn either parties agro back towards me. I almost started to feel bad for the normal wolves when the tenth died with a pitiable whine. That pity vanished a heartbeat later when my senses returned enough to inform me that ten wolves dead only meant one more between me and the armored juggernaut which had devastated the wolf pack.

That last line of defense vanished in a stray spray of blue polygons half a second later and the armored wolf turned its contemptuous gaze on me before charging. I'm still not sure why I didn't start running again. Although I would later attribute my apparent bravery to catching a glimpse of that wolf's critically low health bar, when I was being completely honest with myself I couldn't help but admit that I probably just stood my ground because I was too stunned to move.

Regardless of my reasons I caught that wolf's pounce on the flat of my «Old War-sword». And managed to deflect its weight to the side rather than going down underneath it. Despite my impromptu defense the hit the wolf did land was more than enough to send my bar the rest of the way to the red. As the wolf fell I caught a flash of gray fur and in a bit of instinct I've never deliberately been able to replicate I snapped my sword forward into the initial position of my favorite sword skill. The «Horizontal» caught the wolf midair and tore a straight red line across its breast. The wolf hit the ground behind me and came apart in a bundle of polygons.

I sighed and my whole body shivered in satisfaction. Despite the nagging recrimination I felt running through my head about exactly how foolhardy fighting the armored wolf had been I couldn't help but feel satisfied. The satisfaction doubled when the game played a little clip of fanfare and the post combat window appeared in front of me to dutifully inform me that I had leveled up. Apparently since I had dealt damage to the pack of wolves with the pepper trick I was entitled to experience when they died.

It was more than enough to send me straight past level five and half way towards level six. The drops weren't shabby at all either. I got another four «Wolf Skins» which I could vendor for enough col to last me a week at the village inn. More impressive to me though was the set of «Bone Greaves» the armored wolf had been kind enough to leave behind.

I gulped a potion to help my natural regeneration along. I wasn't comfortable having my bar in the red in the forest. Especially the segment of the forest I was in. Then I equipped the greaves and admired my reflection in a convenient creek. When I hiked up my skirt I saw that wearing the greaves made my legs look even stranger. The greaves bulked up my lower legs to what I thought was skinny rather than the abnormal sticks they normally were, but they unfortunately capped out at my knees. Which left my legs looking more like a graphical error than part of the body.

It was naturally at this somewhat shameful moment that a commentator decided to appear from nowhere. A voice cheerily shouted out from right behind me, "I saw what you did with those wolves. You're quite the hunter." The voice startled me so badly I shrieked and took a face first tumble into the water.

My wits caught up a second later and I stood up in the shallow creek with my clothes soaked and a grumpy frown on my face. The «Wandering Trapper» NPC who had startled me took it all in stride though. He definitely did not have a small smirk on his face, because that would just be giving the AI way way too much credit. Once I walked back onto the bank of the small creek the trapper continued. "I need a bit of help from someone like you."

I considered turning down the obvious quest offer just to spite the NPC, but I was pretty sure that the unfeeling bit of computer code would get the better end of that deal so I instead I mumbled out, "How can I help?" It didn't come out nearly as condescending as I had hoped though.

"Well you see I'm not the first trapper in my family. My father was a trapper too. And when I was a kid he used to tell me stories about a black boar that he used to see wandering the plains. He had this whole epic confrontation with the thing and in the end it got away, but no before my pop took its eye."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but luckily the npc shrugged anyway and continued his tale, "I always thought they were just that. You know, stories you tell a kid." He paused to take a breath before continuing in a softer voice, "But yesterday my father passed away and on his death bed he bequeathed to me the secret of how to trap that black boar."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you ma'am. I want to take a crack at that boar my father used to tell me about, but I'm not half the hunter he was, so I thought I could use some company. You interested?"

"Yes, I'll help." The words came out of my mouth before I really thought the situation through, and the chime of my quest menu updating came just in time for me to wonder what exactly I had gotten myself into.

As if to mock me the trapper npc was immediately overenthusiastic. He grabbed my hands and shook them vigorously before dragging me along deeper into the woods. He spoke as we walked, "I know these parts pretty well. You don't need to worry about anything dangerous finding us when you're with me, but I wouldn't walk this way by yourself. Some nasty things live around here, and they can be real mean to those they find."

I couldn't help but think 'yeah no kidding'. We were in the heart of armored wolf territory where even towards the end of the beta test people had trouble soloing. But the normal occupants of the area were thankfully no where to be seen.

The sky was darkening when the trees started to thin out into the plains of starting city. Even at this late hour a few players were out farming, but they didn't seem to notice me and the NPC as we ghosted by them. The npc finally came to a halt in an isolated bowl filled with a huge half uprooted tree that was leaning heavily against one side of the bowl. The whole thing smelled of damp earth and decay. The npc patted the side of the tree and a bit of loose wood fell off, "This is the place my pop described. Lets see if we can bait anything out." The npc produced a big black cube of what I sincerely hoped was bait and motioned for me to stay before he gently walked into the bowl to place it.

We didn't have to wait long. As the last bit of sun faded from view a single huge red eye poked out from what I now realized was a burrow built into the exposed roots of the tree. The normally soothing background music that I had set to play softly suddenly shifted into something much more jarring with drums and heavy handed guitar rifts. I idly noticed it was the «Boss Theme» as my mind informed me of exactly how screwed I was. The boar was gigantic, easily three times the size of the normal «Frenzy Boars» and had a pair of tusks that looked large enough to run clean through me.

The damn npc was of course still as cheerful as ever. He smirked horribly for a moment before pulling a knife from his pocket. By the time I realized what he was about to do the knife was already speeding towards the boss monster «One-Eye». The bosses head snapped up as the knife impacted his side and a burst of steam suddenly shot from its nostrils as its single eye locked onto us. It churned the ground and made it up the side of the bowl we were standing above before I could even get my weapon clear of its scabbard.

It was a good thing that the boar went after the npc first. It was even better that he had produced an oversized spear from somewhere and managed to not only survive the charge, but hit the boar back hard. He gave me a shout that still somehow sounded cheerful, "I'll stop the front, you get it from the flanks!" Another charge from the boar brought the npc into the yellow, but his counterstrike went critical and took out one of the boars six health bars entirely.

I waited for that pause where the boar was off balance and my chance of critical was greatest before sending a «Vertical» of my own onto the beasts back. The boars bar barely dropped. Two thoughts ran through my head. First, I really really hoped that the miniscule amount of damage I dealt to the boar wasn't my critical. Second, I grimly realized that this quest was meant for a group of players at a much higher level than mine. I who hadn't even completed the required a hundred kills with any of the basic sword skills and thus didn't have access to any second tier sword skills couldn't hope to do enough damage to win this fight.

So I didn't try. SAO was a game that at its core rewarded ingenuity. Which meant there probably was a way to win the ridiculously mismatched battle in spite of everything. I just had to find it before the trapper took another two hits and died. At current rate the battle was going that was only a few more seconds so the first thing I decided to do was try everything to increase the amount of time I had. I turned the the npc and shouted, "Plant the butt of your spear in the ground; use the range of your weapon to keep it away!"

It helped. The boars charge attack didn't do damage if it was blocked by a grounded spear, and the damage the npc dealt actually increased a bit. But if the way the spear was starting to bend perilously and the small popping noises I heard were any indication then the spears durability would be used up soon and we would be back in the same situation only the npc would be unarmed.

I scrambled past where the trapper was holding the boar off for as long as his spear would last and pulled myself up onto the trunk of the decaying tree. I took a swing at the trunk and was rewarded with a small shower of wood. As thought he understood my plan the npc instantly shifted his spear and let the boar get past him. The move cost him another fifth of his health, leaving him just above critical, but when he reset the spear to catch the boar it was was in the perfect position.

I smiled grimly and swung as hard as I could at the trunk underneath my feet. Then I swung again. I kept swinging even as I threw up a small storm of wood chips and dust that stung my throat and eyes. Then I hit the heart wood of the tree with a clang that almost took the sword from my hands and my pace fell to nothing. I spared a glance at the trapper whose face was for the first time showing actual panic while he tried to hold the boar in place with his oversized spear.

I don't know why, but that npc's face moved me. For a few seconds I forgot that I was just trying to complete a quest; I wanted to save that man's life, so I raised my sword and brought it down in a «Vertical» as hard as I could on the heart wood.

My sword rang like silver, but the heart wood didn't even have a mark. So a reared back again and focused everything I had on putting more force behind my sword skill and released another «Vertical». It was like holding a rod of blue fire. Every single bit of force I could muster was behind that blow, and it tore my sword apart in an screech of metal driven far past its limits. But the heart wood still sat there unblemished.

Dully abandoned the plan, and walked up the trunk of the tree. My mind whirled. I knew falling dealt damage and slowly worked through a vague plan to repeatably knock the boar off the trunk of the tree once it finished off the npc and came to kill me. It wasn't a very good plan, but it was all I had left.

I reached the very tip of the trunk where It hung almost two dozen feet in the air above the starting plain and settled into a stance. But my plane was not to be. I heard something like glass breaking and my eyes snapped to where I had been cutting on the tree. Where cracks were now spreading in the heart wood like it was some kind of mineral.

I jumped and the tree came down with me, crushing «The One-Eye» beneath a weight even its prodigious strength couldn't escape. To my surprise when the dust cleared the mammoth wasn't dead. Its last health bar flashed critical red, but it struggled still trying to free itself. Its nose shot billows of steam as its one free leg cut a line in the dirt uselessly. I joined the trapper besides when it at least seemed to accept that it couldn't free itself. The old boar went still before huffing a final time and its single eye still glared at the trapper with an awful malevolence.

The trapper put his spear through its remaining eye and the boar slowly came apart into red polygons. The music faded into familiar fanfare as the system duly informed me I had earned another level. I sagged against the downed tree trunk when it wasn't accompanied by a quest completion screen. I almost cried wondering what else this preposterous quest required for completion.

The trapper sat down against the trunk besides me and stared at the dark sky with a happy smile for a few moments before speaking, "I'm going to make camp here, do you want to join me? Staying the night here will be safer than trying to make your way back to «Horunka Village» after dark." He flashed me a cheesy smile and added, "I'll even cook!"

I couldn't help but smile back, "I would love too, thank you." Those words were enough to send the trapper npc into a flurry of activity as I watched. As though by magic over the next half hour the battle site turned into a homely little camp with a pair of sleeping bags and a roaring fire. Which proved to be for more than comfort when the trapper created a rotating spit and set a hunk of meat apparently taken from «The One-Eye» roasting.

It smelled wonderful. I didn't have an silverware or plates in my inventory – a fault I would be sure to resolve when I made it back to civilization – and if the trapper had any he wasn't sharing. So dinner consisted of cutting a hunk of the roasting meat off of the spit and holding it while biting off pieces. It was messy and easily the most delicious meal that I had had since being trapped in SAO.

The meat was really juicy and had a strong gamey flavor that reminded me of the hunting trips my father used to drag my sister Santa and I on before they were killed. I'm not sure what my face looked like when I was eating the meat, but it was enough for the npc to glance at me and ask, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, its just this meat is really good."

SAO?SAO?

I woke up the next morning to the chime of a quest completion window appearing. The npc trapper had vanished some time in the night leaving me alone in the ruins of our camp. I groggily rolled out of the blankets that the trapper had given me and pressed the accept button. The menu turned into a wall of text:

Normal End, Complete! : You have helped the «Wandering Trapper» complete his ambition of slaying the boss foe« One-Eye».

Rewards:

8000 Col

B-Rank Item: Wood-Craft Medallion – This bracelet drastically increases the «Hiding» skill.

Unique Item: Frenzy Boar Crystal – For use with the «God's Knight» unique skill.

Secret End – Family Business, Complete! : By allowing the «Wandering Trapper» to strike the final blow by putting out «The One-Eye's» remaining eye you have allowed him to fulfill his father's dream. He was so impressed that he offered to make camp with you and cooked the meat of «The One-Eye» for you to enjoy.

Rewards:

Permanent Stat Bonus – Strength +2

My eye's locked on the dropped crystal and ignored everything else. It was my first clue to how my unique skill actually worked. Normally by hitting the detail menu you could learn how a skill worked. This was a basic game play feature that almost everyone knew. It was also completely wrong for my unique skill. Instead of details I got a ten minute track of sempai laughing that replaced the background music wherever I was.

I hit accept to get rid of the rewards menu and opened my skills menu quickly. Sure enough my «God's Knight» had reached level two. Which meant that it either leveled by defeating boss monsters or by obtaining crystals. Or both.

The details option on the crystal was actually a lot more helpful. It stated that the item could be used to summon or unsummon an allied «Frenzy Boar» which would level alongside me. That was enough to set of all sorts of schemes in my head, but I forced them to the back of my brain until I could get to somewhere safer.

Before leaving the camp I collected the blankets the trapper had left behind and any fragments of my sword that I could find. I even took a couple arm length and razor sharp shards of heart wood from the tree I had destroyed to kill «The One-Eye». Mainly because they were the best impromptu weapons around, but the fact that my «Appraisal» skill wasn't high enough to detect what exactly they were also intrigued me.

By the time I finished packing for what I had already resolved to be a desperate run across the plain towards «Starting City» I honestly felt like a bit of a compulsive hoarder. Though it really wasn't that terrible compared to the 'everything and the kitchen sink' philosophy I tended to embrace while playing rpgs.

So when the first bit of sun touched the plains I was already running.

**A/N:**

**I really wanted to end this with eating the boar and just disregard all of the rest, but I really needed to introduce the whole 'crystal to summon monster' thing being related to Lightning's unique skill and it would have been even worse randomly sticking it at the start of the next chapter. For those of you who have played ffxiii2 where this is going should already be familiar.**

**The theme of this chapter was 'solo play' which is why Lightning was the only real character in it. Next chapter you can expect other characters to come back into the plot. Though it might not be the characters you expect.**

**I'm not actually trying to make a game so level ups occur more when I think they should and less when exp would dictate them occurring. That being said the one-eye was supposed to be fought by a group of eight or so at around level eight. So it probably would earn a level up even if I was keeping track of exp.**

**I decided to stick a stats table in this time but let my preface it by against stating that I'm just using it as a guide.**

Lvl: 6

HP: 1250

Stats: Agi 6

Str 14

Equip: Sharp Stick of ? wood.

Well-Maintained Leather Vest

Bone Greaves

Skills: One Handed Weapon Fighting 31/1000

Appraisal 15/1000

Unique: God's Knight 2/1000


End file.
